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After the end of my last serious relationship, I opted out of the circus that is rebound dating for nearly a year. During this hibernation period, I had a breakup couch experience that felt kismet—it was love at first sit. (The Muse really is that girl!) Now that I’m finally ready to put myself out there again, my strategy has been to proceed with caution and beware of the red flags as I openly advertise my single status. I recently redownloaded a dating app and while most of the profiles that pop up are remarkably cringe worthy, there’s something that has been grabbing my attention in a good way: images of interiors.
Every so often as I’m endlessly doom swiping, I’ll spot a photo of a living room or bedroom on a profile. If I was feeling uncertain about the person, this would become my deciding factor. I didn’t need convincing for a therapist with designer chairs perfectly placed in his living room (I swiped right, we didn’t match), but when I came across the corner of a skater’s bedroom that was suspiciously tidy, I had to deliberate for a few minutes. (We matched and proceeded to message back and forth for a few days, but haven’t met up.) You can tell a lot about a person based on the way that they live and I never want to be in a nightmare situation where I find myself relating hard to the “Damn, bitch, you live like this?” meme. Our interiors are an extension of our most authentic selves so we should view the homeplace as a portal into our secluded universe.
When I think about some of the apartments that I’ve visited throughout my dating history, very few of them are worth remembering and I would do almost anything to forget most of them à la Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It’s all about context so I won’t judge someone for living their truth or for factors that are beyond their control in this flopping economy, but some of my glaring red flags are books that have clearly never been read (especially if they only hold real estate on the coffee table), one too many KAWS toys in the room, and a mattress on the floor with navy sheets. But if you have the Supreme/Artek Aalto Stool 60 or a Gaetano Pesce vessel in your possession, my DMs are wide open because that is a flex. I don’t mean to sound like a snob (these are personal preferences after all), but you have to draw the line somewhere, otherwise you’ll wind up looking like a fool that got played by a clown!
As I carried on with my romantic pursuits, I began wondering if this is something that others in the design industry take into consideration when they’re dating too. Regardless of your background, are there obvious red flags that we should all be on the lookout for? Context clues behind closed doors that reveal a person’s true colors? I spoke with eight experts I trust—because they have good taste—to find out what gives them the ick and what gives them butterflies when entering the space of a potential lover for the first time.
According to Lula Galeano of Studio Galeón, there’s nothing worse than a bad DIY job. Though the architectural designer understands that the furniture market is expensive, surely there are better hacks for brutalism building materials that will give you a bang for your buck. “A cinderblock doesn’t belong in your house,” Colin King says. “If that’s your table base then it’s a huge problem.” The interiors stylist also points out how so many guys will poorly attempt to make Donald Judd–inspired chairs, but “it’s just a plywood square chair and I’m like ‘This is not working for you.’” So before you decide to salvage something like a bucket or barrel that you found on the street and use it as a nightstand or coffee table, consider other budget-friendly options from places like IKEA, Target, or Floyd.
Out of all the home decor trends that popped off during the pandemic, none have disturbed Jonathan Sanchez-Obias more than spray foam. The Primaried owner is over it, under it, and all the way around it—not to be dramatic, but he’s begging everyone to drop the can and walk away with your dignity still intact. “There has to be an end to the foam,” he says. “I never thought that looked good…. Those have to be thrown out.”
If you’re really determined to build something yourself, Lula recommends enrolling in some woodworking classes so you can actually learn the technical skills that are required. (She’ll always give points for creativity, but if the execution is sloppy then leave it on the curb where it belongs.) “Don’t be afraid to develop your own style, but be careful with DIY,” she adds. As someone who regularly conducts SWOT analysis, I know my skill set could be put to better use in the face of DIY projects!
Given the amount of couple activities that commence in the bedroom, this is an area that you definitely don’t want to skimp on. Bad, cheap sheets are one of Lula’s biggest turnoffs, followed by a noisy metal bed frame that she finds “really depressing.” (Also, if you iron your sheets please seek help.) Depending on the color palette that you choose, your bedroom can give off different vibes. Colin points out how guys in particular are naturally drawn to forest greens and navy blues, which can get “super collegiate really fast” and result in an aesthetic that looks more like a dorm room. When you’re dating in your late twenties to mid thirties, Colin says “you’re just looking for someone who isn’t living like a college student and is trying to create some sort of experience at their house that is reflective of them.”
So do yourself a favor and invest in some linen sheets from Tekla, Parachute, or Brooklinen—and please have more than one set! The whole dressing of the bed is essential, but nothing stresses out Beverly Nguyen more than spotting only two pillows sans cases. “I once brought over two additional pillows with this guy I was seeing,” she recalls. “I tried to order them on Amazon and then they got stolen because of the building, I was like ‘What am I doing? Why am I dating this person? I need to date up.’”
Beverly also points out that “your bed is not an island” so it shouldn’t be treated like the prime destination for your everyday activities. “There are some people who live in their bed and around their mattress is like one sock, a bunch of tissues, cups, their computer, and all the chargers.” Also, don’t forget the curtains. As Hoechitecture founder Hanna Ali bluntly puts it, “If I’m waking up in a guy’s house and it’s in complete sunlight, like there’s no type of barrier by these curtains, I really feel like God’s just telling me, “Get up and go!” (She also notes that sleeping on dark or muted sheets is “not good for morale.”)
Colin might be partially biased because he is also the artistic director at large of Beni Rugs, but this is a detail that he pays extra attention to when stepping into a space. As he quips, “If it looks like Soho House, it’s a problem.” Hanna is also weirded out when people don’t have rugs on their floors, regardless if it’s covered in wood, marble, or tile. “If you don’t have a carpet, it feels like an echo chamber,” she adds.
The wiggle trend was another pandemic staple that held a tight grip on many of us during such a strange and uncertain time. A few squiggles here and there in a space is totally harmless, but designer John Sohn sees how “some people can go a little overboard and it starts turning into a children’s room kind of aesthetic, like everything’s too soft and pastel.” (Remember kindercore?) He adds, “I think we need to move past that moment.”
Greige might be having a moment, but John is openly not a fan. In fact, he refers to gray as a “color of convenience.” Though gray can be beautiful when applied to luxe materials like cashmere and mohair blankets, the designer advises against decorating your home with bedding and furnishings in this subdued hue. “The sofa is the heart of the home; [it’s] where you spend so much time, I feel like it says a lot about your personality—what kind of sofa you pick, what color you have as well,” he explains. “It’s a great way to immediately have a point of view in a room.”
Gray furniture might be appealing for people with kids or pets that are concerned about stain resistance, but it should probably not be the default that speaks for the entire room. (Also, that’s what throw blankets are for!) Overall, Colin thinks that the “contract gray furniture” is not a good look. Then there’s Lily Sullivan who has a theory about gray sofas that she documented in her newsletter, Love & Other Rugs. The writer is fully convinced that “the intimidating nature of antiquing and couches is why the West Elm gray sofa has reigned supreme.” She compares the gray sofa to “a khaki pair of pants” that lacks any hint of personality, adding “I don’t think that everyone needs to have an opinion about interior design, there are so many more interesting pieces of furniture and to have something with a little perspective shows that you’ve thought about it for more than a second.”
The filmmaker John Waters once said, “If you go home with someone and they don’t have any books, don’t fuck them.” But for John Sohn, piling on the coffee table books is the bigger turnoff. (What is this, a WeWork?!) Whenever he spots the familiar spine of the Tom Ford book in a home it strikes him as a weird flex for status. “I just find it strange when you go over to people’s houses and the coffee table is just books, you don’t really know where to put your drink, and you might not have a tray,” he says. “Usually there are coasters, but I feel weird about putting a drink on top of a book.” The designer’s personal policy is keeping books on a shelving unit and pulling them out whenever he (or someone else) wants to look at them. Something that John does value is when people put thought into the books that they have on display. “I definitely think less is more is better for that situation because it is a really great conversation starter, especially when you see [an unusual] book that you’ve never seen before,” he adds.
Beverly’s stance is that books are one of the main foundations of a home. Based on her many observations, you can really get to know a person based on what they have out on display. “Every rich guy in LA buys all of their books on Amazon, puts it on their Vitsœ shelves, and has never flipped through them,” she explains. “It’s the funniest thing and sometimes those books are upside down. And then there’s the creative New York guy who has a lot of great design books, but you’ll know if you take a moment to look through them if they have the books flipped the other way so that the bind is hidden because they’re all really kinky, weird, fetishy books or a little bit questionably racist [books] that they’re embarrassed by.” Lily pays even more attention to how the books are organized and has even helped other people with arranging their bookshelves. “You really get to know their personality, it’s like, ‘Here’s what you’re choosing to create your view on the world around.’”
Lava lamps, LED strip lights, neon signs…where are we, Miami? Hanna is reminded of a scene from Married at First Sight where one of the contestants suspects that her husband is “addicted to LED lights.” Bad lighting is a sin in Lula’s mind, especially “the abuse of color LED” with orb lamps or rice paper lanterns in the style of Noguchi from Pearl Market. Beverly absolutely detests this hack, noting that people should just “commit to the actual [Noguchi] or get a functioning utilitarian light.” The stylist admits that she’s gone on a few dates in the past that led her to apartments with “super weird, moody lighting” as in a bedroom glowing with fuchsia LED lights or even a bathroom that has dark ambient “Bushwick club” lighting that made her wonder, What are you growing and what are you hiding by using these lights? I promise you, this behavior is anything but attractive—you’re practically broadcasting that you’re in your flop era! Beverly adds, “I’m not a fish in a tank, I feel like it’s a weird trick.”
For the most part, Jonathan believes that neons don’t belong in our houses either, but if you must have a sign on display then he insists on dropping the script font. Herman Wakefield, creator of @northwest_mcm_wholesale, states that “words of any kind on your wall” are a no, with the exception of “a cool museum print that happens to have words on the bottom, but let’s just play it safe and say NO WORDS ON THE WALL in your living room.”) Bad overhead lighting is particularly painful for Lily, but she assures it’s an easy fix that comes down to light bulbs and lamps. “Make it look like we’re not in a doctor’s office,” she says. “If it looks like a doctor’s office, I’m going to leave.” Beverly recommends taking a page out of Jenna Lyons’ rule book as a “no overhead light kind of person,” noting that the fashion designer only has floor lamps and desk lamps in her home. There are so many good options for statement lamps of all shapes and sizes that are affordable, ask a friend if you need some pointers. (Also, a dimmer will change your life.)
Though lighting is super important to Colin as well, he actually finds it charming when guys try to use colorful lighting because at least they’re making an effort to curate a vibe. But there’s a time and a place for that type of light show, which is usually when you’re hosting a party. “When restaurants or hotels do it, they’re thinking about what a shift looks like over time,” Lily explains. “You’re going there for their vibe, and maybe day looks different than night and that’s purposeful, versus ‘Let me turn on some red lights to spice things up.’” The same set of criteria should also be applied to scented candles: Lighting too many of them at once is a hazard to the senses. As Beverly points out, “candles are also really stunning and romantic, but sometimes they lean a little Renaissance and I’m like, ‘We can be a bit more modernized.’” Remember, this is your real life, not an A24 film.
In the same vein of DIY, another point of contention is artwork. Depending on which way you lean, this offense will have you blocked, reported, and deleted! While becoming the curator of your own domain is an accomplishment to be proud of, Colin insists that bad art, posters, and framing can “really bring down a room.” The interiors stylist especially has a hard time with typography on art. Herman would much rather look at a mirror, painting, print, or tapestry on the wall. “I’ll make some enemies with this, but I don’t like looking at photos on the wall,” he writes in an email while noting that family portraits strictly belong in the bedroom.
Hanna agrees with all of the above and emphasizes that drip artwork is especially hideous. As for Beverly, “I don’t need the person with the fancy vases and plants and stuff, but I do like people who frame their own work, family portraits, or collected prints from artists that they love.” Also, if you weren’t a fan of Gaetano Pesce before his Bottega Veneta chair collab, you should probably sit that one out. Lily views artwork as another point of intimidation, but she’s even more disturbed by people that have nothing on their walls. “Are you a serial killer? You put your home in a white box.” Not only does she interpret this as a lack of perspective, but also a lack of confidence in your taste. (But don’t you dare go frame a series of stock photos!)
Everybody has to start somewhere when they’re building a collection, but Colin challenges you to think critically about the objects of your desire. “I’m more concerned with what’s on the surfaces of these places than I am the actual surface itself sometimes because I think what people choose to display and what they choose to look at on that eye level is really reflective of who they are and what they care about,” he says. Instead of indulging your urge to splurge on the first thing that catches your eye, consider picking up trinkets from your travels or take some sentimental tchotchkes from your grandparents’ house the next time that you visit.
“When people are starting to decorate in a way where they’re either building shelving or buying pieces that they don’t even have anything to put on or in it, and then they’re buying these random things to feel collected, I always think that’s kind of bizarre,” Colin explains. “If people are showing things that they don’t have a sentimental connection to it’s almost similar to the faux thing of buying an object that looks old, but it’s not like they got it at World Market.”
Beverly is a fan of framing keepsakes and mementos because it shows that you care about something or someone. She’s slightly suspicious of anyone that doesn’t have personal memorabilia on view, noting how “it’s always people who don’t have personal notes, cards, or family photos that I’m like, ‘What’s up?’ You’re probably a robot.”
Though there’s nothing wrong with houseplants, there are some people who go a little overboard with flexing their “plant daddy” status. Lula thinks that big trees and plants have become an easy and cheap way to fill up space in an apartment instead of embracing emptiness. As Hanna notes, “Too many plants in your house is a red flag because why don’t you have the ability to curate? You don’t have proper vases for all of these plants and now they’re just in a corner, hanging from wherever…. It looks so strange and your house smells a little bit moldy.” Colin goes so far as declaring a “no hanging plants ever” rule, but faux plants also freak him out so he admires people with green thumbs. While we’re still on the subject, artificially dried or colored flowers are also a hard pass.
Overstuffing a room with too many objects to focus on is not only obtrusive to the eye, but really sends John over the edge. (From his POV, the gallery wall is dead under a ditch in the abyss of cluttercore!) “I’m definitely a believer in less is more and letting important pieces shine,” he insists. As someone who is also a big fan of organization, “smart and effective storage to keep all your junk and little things hidden is always good” in his book. “It doesn’t have to be fancy like [USM Haller], although it is beautiful,” John adds. “As long as you can have a calm, easy to look at room, that’s important.”
It should go without saying, but cleanliness is non-negotiable. Colin can’t unsee any dust bunnies, residue on a surface, or dirty windows that cross his path. There’s nothing more attractive than someone that can clean up after themselves. As Hanna further explains, “I feel like cleanliness is such a telltale sign, and also in the sense of are things dusted? Are they vacuumed? Not just are [the dishes] put away because I’m going to think that you just picked up before I got there. Are things actually clean? Is the bathtub clean? Or does the bathroom just look picked up all over the place?”
Having the ability to stay organized in a small space shows that you consider how everything fits into place and are aware of all the storage solutions that exist from cabinets and consoles to racks and dividers. “There’s people who are OCD about their shoes, bags, and organization and that’s always a nice bonus,” Beverly says. “But then there’s a type of guy that everything’s in a pile and it looks like they just got naked, dropped everything, and then walked away…. It’s like the Ghostbusters came in and they disappeared. There’s no in between.”
For many of us, the bathroom is a make or break zone in the home. Beverly insists that you can tell a lot about someone based on what’s happening in their bathroom: Is there only a box of Q-tips on display alongside a stolen bottle of hotel soap on the sink? If there’s a trash can, is it missing a bag? Do they use a bath mat? Or is this bathroom giving more American Psycho vibes with only a bottle of Aesop hand wash and Necessaire body wash in sight? “Sometimes I’m just like, these things are just so, so minimal and they are trying too hard,” she adds. “Basically, I’m saying I’m complicated.”
Colin admits that he even judges people for their soap selection. “If it’s a bar of soap, it’s probably a no.” Hanna also warns that no towels in the bathroom is a very bad sign. Everyone appreciates a touch of ambience, especially in a place that is designated for doing the nasty, if you catch my drift. (Nobody wants to be told to “beware of the bathroom” as they make their way down the hall.) At the very least, stock up on some essential oil diffusers, lotions, and hand towels to show your guests that you’re a practical adult.
From Mario Bellini’s Camaleonda sofa and Michel Ducaroyc’s Togo sofa to Marcel Breuer’s Cesca chair and Sottsass’ Ultrafragola mirror, so many iconic designs have been duped to death throughout the decades. This ick is Jonathan’s breaking point, but he’s certainly not dying on this hill alone—bad knockoffs and fast furniture were flagged as the cringiest decor trends by some of our favorite YouTubers and TikTokers too. “I understand that not everyone has a huge budget, but every day I see pieces of vintage furniture that are cheaper and better made than the stuff we’re mass producing now,” Herman adds. If splurging on an authenticated original won’t work with your current budget, why not consider a more affordable alternative? “People need to learn more about affordable furniture that’s cool,” Jonathan says. “For the most part, I think people buy [bad replicas] because they need direction.”
Hanna claims that men have a furniture problem in general. “Whether they’re rich or broke, they don’t have a lot of furniture,” she explains. “I don’t know where you got this sofa, but why is it the only thing in the room? Or they’ll have one really nice Togo chair in the corner and even that is becoming a red flag…. What Instagram did you see and were like ‘Yeah, that’s going to be me.’ And it’s usually not a real Togo, they’re like, ‘Oh, I bought this couch.’ I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, a Togo.’ They’re like, ‘What?’” The spatial designer is so over these bought ideologies of what design is. “Also, the Togo is awfully too low,” she adds while labeling it as the new “sex chair.”
John acknowledges how so many people are influenced by celebrity homes and finding dupes, but thinks there’s real value in “waiting and investing in pieces that you really believe in versus trying to get the look for less.” Similarly, Jonathan appreciates when people have funky pieces of tubular chrome furniture that aren’t designer, but were made in the style of a specific design reference like Bauhaus, for example. “I think that definitely shows taste when someone has thrifted something like that,” he notes.
Even if you’re not a master of the universe, you’re certainly aware that energy is everything and everywhere. Hanna notes that there’s a huge difference between bad interiors from a place of design and feng shui in somebody’s house when things are simply placed wrong. “Say the bookshelf is all on the wrong side of the space or the room feels shrunk, that’s a red flag,” she explains. “How do you stub your toe every morning and just live like this?” (One of her biggest pet peeves is shoe racks at the front of the door.) Nobody wants their home to be a place where bad vibes live rent-free. To avoid making such a grave mistake, study the notes of Cliff Tan!
You know when you step into a room and it feels like there’s a theme? Yeah, don’t do that. Jonathan advises avoiding going all in on one specific aesthetic unless the desired goal is for your space to look like a retail store. “It’s way more interesting when you have a mix of things,” he adds. “If you have too many brand-name high-end designers it doesn’t really say much about you other than you can afford nice things and not really have a point of view.” Fetishizing a culture you don’t belong to is also super icky!
Another red flag for Colin is when you can tell that everything in the space is all from one place. “Even the guys my age, I feel like they’ll go to Design Within Reach and be like, ‘Oh, I bought everything there,’” he says. “Although it’s a different maker you can just see that they worked with a specialist there.” Lily really values when a person’s style shows that they have their own perspective and opinions. “Is the ALD baseball cap the same thing as the KAWS sculpture? Like, ‘All the dudes are doing it so I’m doing it?’” (Those Kith x Frank Lloyd Wright sneakers aren’t fooling anyone either.)
In addition to calling for an end to arranging your shoes on floating shelves from IKEA (and using them as decor in general), Hanna is alarmed by the influx of “BBL interiors,” which stylistically revolves around vanity and the fetishization of luxury culture through a lens of gaudy-minimalism. (You’ll know you’ve entered one of these “super, super toxic” spaces if you see framed luxury logos, mirrored decor, bedazzled tufts, designer shopping bags, and body-shaped vessels.) She also hates when people define their design style as “clean” because it comes off as sterile, cold, and “like you can’t deal with anything in your life.”
Too much MCM can also be a huge turnoff. “I love modernist architecture and design, but if you look at what your favorite designers actually had in their homes back then, it was an eclectic mix of stuff,” Herman explains. “When I see the same thing over and over it gives me anxiety. Don’t mimic the style of some bizarre internet personality. Create your own. Make your house look like you.” Though it’s more than okay to have design inspiration, Beverly notes that there are so many other ways to copy a formula for an apartment. Unless your personality can really extend the range of all those references, she recommends keeping things simple.
“Like just get the USM cabinet in a neutral color, the Vitsœ shelves, and the Artek tables,” Beverly says. “It’s all fine if you have these uniform things in your thirties and you’re trying to become more interesting in your design aesthetic, but also want to be simplified and Muji-esque. Maybe you don’t have a sense of direction, but just play it safe by going with the most classic modern pieces; don’t overextend yourself.”
There should also be some signs of life through specific cookware and objects that point to hobbies. “I like when people take pride in the things that they own,” Lily says while recounting a date in which she was surprised to find out that the guy had an impressive collection of lithographs from a specific era. “That was a green flag, I was like, ‘I’m attracted to the way you’re thinking.’”
Believe it or not, designing with a point of view goes a long way. Beverly thinks that with everyone becoming so involved in their homes during the pandemic, there’s been a spectrum of people transitioning into “the butterfly of their design dreams” or giving up and reverting in the other direction. “Not that everybody needs to have great taste, but you need to have an interest in caring in the least bit,” she says. “It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but it does need to allude that you take care of your home in any sense.”
Lula agrees that not caring about how you live, whether it’s where something came from or how the full picture comes together, is more of a bad look than living inside a trend-driven Pinterest board. Having a vision is sexy, but you do have to be careful because, as Lula points out, “When you find a guy that is into design, they are complete snobs.” (Lily can’t decide which is worse, “someone who has a clean slate but no opinion or someone who has too much of an opinion” when it comes to their interiors.) But John emphasizes, “Your home is so much about your personality and who you are as a person. Even if it’s not my thing, I appreciate when someone is able to push themselves or take a risk on decorating their home because they should be allowed to do whatever they want to do.”
Hanna claims that she doesn’t “know a man who properly shops online for furniture as much as they do for clothes.” She continues, “I wish that people expressed themselves in similar ways in their home interior, especially because you’re constantly in your home. Even though we’re post-pandemic, it’s still important to dress up your home…. We’re so comfortable in the house now, we have to tailor it more than these outside places.” This is something that Herman also finds extremely peculiar. “It always surprises me when people that are very deliberate in their fashion choices seem to have no clue when it comes to interior design,” he states. “I’ll take an ostentatious, tacky, or cluttered space over an IKEA showroom any day.”
Paying extra attention to details, even for smaller things like plates, flatware, cups, lighters, and ashtrays, also gets some major bonus points. “I don’t want to drink wine out of a mug,” says Hanna. “I don’t want to drink it out of a cup either.” The bar is pretty low so if you already have more than one fork, knife, and spoon then you’re doing great! Beverly’s rule of thumb is say no to mugs, even the celebratory ones. “A fun date actually, for me because I’m a freak and maybe for you, would be going over and being like, ‘Let’s just buy everything you need!’” An even better idea would be bringing your date to the Beverly’s store where the stylist can personally help with upgrading their homewares. (After all, her goal is for “people to come and fall in love here.”) “What’s the heart of the house? Sometimes there isn’t one and that’s concerning,” she adds.
Le Creuset Signature Enameled Cast-Iron Round Oven in Shallot
“I never cook, but I love an actual functioning kitchen. That’s a green flag for me because so many bachelor pads are either American Psycho, like never cooked in that kitchen in their whole life, or there’s takeout and leftovers on the counter. I need somebody that knows how to cook for sure. What’s better than an appliance? If they have a gas range…I mean, wow! Marriage material, right? Any Viking Range appliances, hello! Or that Miele dishwasher….” -Colin King
Smeg '50s Retro Style Milk Frother
“Appliances in general, like a sexy coffee machine or even knowing how to steep a tea properly…. I’m not even mad at some kind of advanced, pretty looking Nespresso machine. A milk frother? Sealed. I used to say you know you’ve made it when you have a milk frother.” -Beverly Nguyen
“I always find it impressive when anyone is able to take care of their [houseplants]. I think it says a lot about who they are as a person and if they care about something. If they care about the plants it kind of means they care about their home, you know? It’s a good indication for me.” -John Sohn
“When they have flowers it’s a super green flag no matter what the aesthetic is because it shows you that someone is thinking about having joy in their home and making you feel welcome.” -Lula Galeano
Completed Works Ekaterina Bazhenova Yamasaki Wake Ceramic Vase
“If you have fresh flowers, I don’t even really care what they are, it’s a green flag for me. It’s an attention to detail and beauty.” -Colin King
Boby Office Trolley By Joe Colombo - B22
“The Boby trolley is super practical and I think anyone that has it knows what’s up to a certain extent. Anyone that appreciates that probably has some taste.” -Jonathan Sanchez-Obias
Staub 5-Qt. Graphite Tall Round Cocotte
“It’s always a green light if somebody has a dutch oven. You might have shitty knives, but we can fix that. You have the foundation of a soup pot which I think is sexy…. The desire to learn or the desire to want to do it is very sexy.” -Beverly Nguyen
Bellhop Portable LED Table Lamp
“If they have an interesting lamp or lighting situation I can really get down with that. I can forgive people on furniture, but I think what goes on surfaces is really easy and you’ll be able to live with it forever. So I’m always drawn to guys with cute lighting.” -Colin King
“Distinct, defined areas in an apartment or living space—having zones for everything like an area where you eat, an area where you have your living room, an area that you have your office. I know that’s really tough in New York because we’re limited on so much space, but I think it’s nice when people are able to carve out zones. Establishing those boundaries is very good and very healthy.” -John Sohn
“You should just make a nice bed, then people won’t leave.” -Beverly Nguyen
“Aalto is kind of like quiet luxury and pretty standard pieces that have influenced so many designs, so when people have the real one, that’s a green flag.” -Jonathan Sanchez-Obias
Cotton Canvas Hand Pillow by Sohn
“Having a sense of humor or whimsy about decor, not being too serious about it like the greigification of everything…It’s nice when you walk into a home and there’s something kind of cheeky showing that people aren’t taking things too seriously in their home. I feel like sometimes people can try to make their home look too chic and polished, and that just makes everyone kind of uncomfortable.” -John Sohn
“A few guys that I’ve dated before had a speaker in the bathroom. It’s a very small and easy thing to do. If you’re playing music throughout your home, and then you go into the bathroom and there’s a Sonos in there that’s connected…it’s easily a yes. You care about things, you like a little ambience. I have a little Google Home in the bathroom.” -Beverly Nguyen
Transparent White Small Glass Speaker
“If they have a sound system I’m like, ‘Great!’ I’m one of those people who always has some music on. People who consider a vibe and know how to entertain are really, really nice and that comes with lighting, smells, what you’re hearing…. Playing to the senses a little bit is considerate and thoughtful.” -Colin King
Hudson Wilder Orange Decca Stackable Glass Set
Steel Rebar And Wire Rod “My friends all have Hudson Wilder cups, knives, and the strainer, everyone’s kitchen now looks the same. I’m glad it all translated over to a uniform.” -Beverly Nguyen